Mustangs top Trojans for share of 28-5A lead

Day falls short of shutout but gets 'W' in district tilt

Even as the regular season draws to a close, nothing is certain when it
comes to District 28-5A baseball.

King (6-3 district, 18-10 overall) outlasted Moody 3-1 Tuesday night
at Cabaniss Field, forging a three-way tie for first place between the
Mustangs, Trojans (6-3, 23-7) and Ray (6-3, 26-5), which defeated
Miller 11-1 on Monday.

The second game of Tuesday night's doubleheader between Victoria
Memorial and Carroll was halted in the top of the third with the Vipers
leading 1-0. It was moved to 7 p.m. tonight at the same location.

Ricky Day's shutout bid ended in the bottom of the seventh when
Tomas Tovar drove in Ramsey Gonzalez on a sacrifice fly to center
field, bringing the Trojans to within two runs. With runners on second
and third and only one out, Day struck out Jacob Perales and forced
Peter Esquivel into a pop fly to end the game.

"They know that the game is never over until the last out,"
first-year King coach Rene Castillo said. "The game can turn around at
any time, so you have to attack it 100 percent. The kids really came
prepared.

"They played their hearts out, like it was their last game."

Mustangs come out running

King set the tone early by scoring two runs in the top of the
first.

Matt Beveridge led off the game with a walk and moved to third on a
base hit to left field by John Mendez. Moody's James Woods missed the
ball as he was charging in to make the play, allowing Beveridge to
score and give the Mustangs a 1-0 lead.

Marc Benavides followed with a single to score Mendez and put the
Trojans in a quick 2-0 hole.

"Without that, it would've been a much tougher battle," Castillo
said. "You can never count Moody out, because they can always come back
on you. That built some momentum for us and we just kept going from
there."

King increased its advantage in the third, scoring a run on the
inning's second wild pitch by Moody's Gonzalez.

Mendez led off with a base hit to left and took second on Gonzalez's
first errant throw. He tried to score on a single up the middle by
Benavides, but center fielder Jacob Morales threw out Mendez at the
plate.

Having advanced to second on the throw home, Benavides went to third
on a ground out by Day. Benavides managed to score when Gonzalez's
second offering to Michael Hunter hit the dirt and rolled to the
backstop.

"We had one error in left field they scored on. They probably
wouldn't have otherwise," Moody coach Corky Gallegos said. "They also
had a passed ball they scored. Those things happen in a game
sometimes."

For the Trojans, the lack of offense hurt the most.

Day allowed only five hits, each of those coming in a different
inning. Moody left the bases loaded twice and stranded 11 total
runners, including eight in scoring position.

"That's just the way the game goes," Gallegos said. "We have to
produce runs and do certain things defensively win and today we weren't
able to capitalize on our opportunities."

The regular season ends Friday with a tripleheader at Cabaniss
Field, beginning with Moody and Miller. Ray then hosts Victoria
Memorial before Carroll and King meet in the nightcap.

Given the situation, Gallegos doesn't mind enduring the frantic
finish.

"It's really coming down to the wire," he said. "I'm enjoying every
moment of it."